Company Culture A Valuable Intangible Asset

A well developed and respectfully monitored company culture is an intangible asset which, when permitted, produce-deliver very tangible returns! Essentially, a company culture exists when an (intangible) environment is created whereby employees recognize and are generally and willingly accommodating to particular configurations – arrangements of attitudinal and behavioral expectations, i.e., a like-mindedness.Numerous individuals with presumed expertise – experience in company culture building, go so far as to say, culture reflects a company’s soul, which perhaps in today’s context, translates more as a substantial contributor – component to brand.

As an IA strategist and risk specialist, I make no apologies for my advocacy of ethical company cultures. Investments of thought, time, and energy to develop, integrate, and sustain a company culture are routinely wise – prudent investments.

On the other hand, of course, when company cultures are neglected, ignored, or dismissed as irrelevant, or absent consistent and respectful nurturing and monitoring, it’s likely some type of culture will evolve anyway, perhaps not one intended or preferred, but, it will come to exist. In other words, the (company) culture that does evolve in such circumstances may do so in ways that are not particularly helpful to the company, its mission, or consumers it wishes to attract. Yes, a cultureless company can manifest in many different ways, but certainly not all leading to financial – competitive doom. My experiences – observations do point, with some confidence, a purposefully cultureless company is likely to be substantially more draining-taxing on management team’s time and energy to referee, moderate, and/or remediate relatively mundane issues that would otherwise likely accommodate themselves through personnel (cultural) expectations.

From a financial perspective, David Lupin, and many others, including this IA strategist, suggest, investing in (company) culture building is comparatively low-cost and comes with a favorable probability that a company doing so will experience measurable long term economic and competitive advantage returns. While a company culture, like other IA’s, is not necessarily subject to one’s conventional senses, most all know when it is present, absent, or needs remediation.

Worthy takeaways to this post are…

ensuring a mission relevant, effective, and ethical company culture exists, and

it is measurably convertible to value.

Mr. Moberly is an intangible asset strategist and risk specialist and author of ‘Safeguarding Intangible Assets’ published by Elsevier in 2014, m.moberly@kpstrat.com View Mr. Moberly’s videos on YouTube at ‘safeguarding intangible assets’ or his CNN and CNBC videos at his webpage http://kpstrat.com